Strikethrough Text Generator

"This was a mistake", 11 ways

Every line style, applied by this tool when the page was built, with the line running across spaces.

• Strikethrough T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶t̶a̶k̶e̶
• Short strike T̵h̵i̵s̵ ̵w̵a̵s̵ ̵a̵ ̵m̵i̵s̵t̵a̵k̵e̵
• Slashed T̸h̸i̸s̸ ̸w̸a̸s̸ ̸a̸ ̸m̸i̸s̸t̸a̸k̸e̸
• Short slash T̷h̷i̷s̷ ̷w̷a̷s̷ ̷a̷ ̷m̷i̷s̷t̷a̷k̷e̷
• Wavy strike T̴h̴i̴s̴ ̴w̴a̴s̴ ̴a̴ ̴m̴i̴s̴t̴a̴k̴e̴
• Underline T̲h̲i̲s̲ ̲w̲a̲s̲ ̲a̲ ̲m̲i̲s̲t̲a̲k̲e̲
• Double underline T̳h̳i̳s̳ ̳w̳a̳s̳ ̳a̳ ̳m̳i̳s̳t̳a̳k̳e̳
• Wavy underline T̰h̰ḭs̰ ̰w̰a̰s̰ ̰a̰ ̰m̰ḭs̰t̰a̰k̰ḛ
• Overline T̅h̅i̅s̅ ̅w̅a̅s̅ ̅a̅ ̅m̅i̅s̅t̅a̅k̅e̅
• Double overline T̿h̿i̿s̿ ̿w̿a̿s̿ ̿a̿ ̿m̿i̿s̿t̿a̿k̿e̿
• Crossed below T͓h͓i͓s͓ ͓w͓a͓s͓ ͓a͓ ͓m͓i͓s͓t͓a͓k͓e͓

How struck-through text works

Most styled text swaps your letters for different characters that resemble them. Strikethrough does not. Your letters stay exactly as they are, and after each one the tool adds a single invisible character, U+0336, whose only job is to draw a horizontal stroke through whatever came before it.

Unicode calls these combining marks. They are the same machinery that puts the accent on é when it is stored as an e followed by an accent, and they work in any font that can show accented letters, which is why strikethrough renders on more devices than almost any other styled text.

It also degrades more gracefully. Because the letters underneath are unchanged, some search systems strip the marks and still match the word, and someone who copies your text can clean it in one step. Neither is true of bold or bubble letters, which are different characters all the way through.

Why the line breaks between words

A mark attaches to the character before it, and a space is a character like any other. Leave the spaces unmarked and every word gets its own line with a gap between them:

T̶h̶i̶s̶ w̶a̶s̶ a̶ m̶i̶s̶t̶a̶k̶e̶

Mark the spaces too and the strokes meet, so the line runs across the whole phrase the way it would in a word processor:

T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶t̶a̶k̶e̶

The tool joins them by default, because that is what most people picture when they think of crossed-out text. Untick One unbroken line across spaces if you want each word struck separately, which can read as more deliberate — a list of items each crossed off in turn.

11 kinds of line

Strikethrough is one of a family of marks, and the tool offers all the ones that are useful. They fall into three groups by where they are drawn.

Through the letter

The long stroke is the standard strikethrough, and in most fonts it is drawn wide enough to join its neighbours into a continuous line. The short stroke is narrower and leaves small gaps, which some people prefer for a lighter look. The long and short slashes draw a diagonal instead — the same mark used to negate a symbol in mathematics, as in ≠ — and the wavy strike draws a tilde through each letter.

Under the letter

The low line is a plain underline, joining up across characters just like the long stroke. The double low line gives a double underline, traditionally used for totals. The wavy underline is a tilde beneath each character, close to the squiggle a spellchecker uses. The crossed style puts a small x under every letter, which is more decoration than correction.

Over the letter

The overline is a line above. It has a real job in mathematics, marking a repeating decimal or an average, and in electronics, marking a signal that is active when low. The double overline draws two.

Combining lines

Tap more than one line style and they are stacked on every character. Struck and underlined together, for instance:

R̶̲e̶̲v̶̲i̶̲s̶̲e̶̲d̶̲

The marks are always added in the same order — through, then under, then over — so ticking strike before underline gives exactly the same characters as the other way round. That matters if you later need to find or clean the text: the same visual result is always the same characters.

Each extra line is another character per letter, and stacked marks can be clipped where line spacing is tight, so two is usually the sensible maximum.

Use the app's own strikethrough when it has one

A Unicode line is a workaround for places that give you no formatting. Where an app does have its own, the native version is better in every way that counts: the text stays ordinary letters, it is fully searchable, it is the normal length, and screen readers handle it properly. The tool shows the wrapped version of your text for the common ones, ready to paste.

Where	Strikethrough	Notes
Discord	~~text~~	Underline is __text__. Both can be combined with bold and italic.
Reddit, GitHub and most Markdown	~~text~~	Part of the widely used extended Markdown rather than the original specification.
WhatsApp	~text~	One tilde on each side.
Slack	~text~	One tilde on each side, or the formatting toolbar.
Google Docs	Alt+Shift+5	On a Mac, ⌘+Shift+X.
Microsoft Excel	Ctrl+5	Applies to the whole selected cell or the selected text in it.
Microsoft Word	The Strikethrough button on the Home tab	In the Font group, beside bold, italic and underline.

Places without any formatting — most profile bios, display names, captions, comment boxes and text messages — are where the Unicode version earns its keep.

What a line through text means

Strikethrough is the oldest editing mark there is. On paper you cannot delete a word, only cross it out, and the convention that a struck word is withdrawn but still visible has carried through every medium since. A typist with no delete key backspaced and typed hyphens or a row of x's over the mistake. Tracked changes in a word processor show deleted text struck through. Amended contracts and legislation are often printed with removed wording struck through and new wording underlined, so a reader can see exactly what changed.

Online it picked up a second meaning: the visible retraction. Writing something and striking it through, then saying what you meant instead, lets you say the first thing while officially taking it back. It is a joke that only works because the struck words stay readable — which is the whole point of a strikethrough rather than a deletion.

Crossing items off a list

One of the most satisfying uses is the plainest. A to-do list in a note, a bio or a group chat has no checkboxes, but a struck-through line reads instantly as done. Paste the list in, untick the unbroken line if you prefer each word struck separately, and copy back only the items you have finished. Because the letters are unchanged, the list stays readable — you can still see what was done, which is the point of crossing it out rather than deleting it.

Removing lines from text you copied

Switch to Remove lines and paste in anything struck, underlined or overlined. The tool removes every line mark it knows and leaves everything else alone, including genuine accents — café stays café. It is the quickest way to rescue a quote someone posted struck through, or to search for words that were.

The length cost

Every line is one character per letter, spaces included if you join the line. "This was a mistake" is 18 characters plain and 36 once struck through. Bio fields, post limits and username checks count those marks even though they take up no room on screen, so a struck line runs out of space at half the usual length. The result card shows both numbers so you can see where you stand.

How it looks on different screens

The long stroke is drawn by the font, and fonts disagree slightly about how wide to draw it. In most, neighbouring strokes overlap into one continuous line; in a few, especially narrow or monospaced ones, you can see tiny breaks between letters. Neither is wrong — it is the same characters drawn by different hands — but if a seamless line matters, check it where it will be read.

Emoji are the other thing to watch. A combining mark expects a letter in front of it, and many devices cannot draw one across an emoji; the line simply stops, or a small dotted circle appears where the mark has nothing to attach to. Struck text with an emoji in the middle often looks broken for that reason, so strike the words and leave the emoji plain.

When not to use it

A screen reader usually ignores the marks and reads the words as if they were plain. That sounds harmless until the line carries meaning: a crossed-out old price followed by a new one is read aloud as two prices with no sign which one applies. If the strikethrough is telling the reader something, say it in words as well.

And use it sparingly. One struck word in a sentence is a joke or a correction; a whole paragraph struck through is just hard to read.

Related tools

The Fancy Text Generator has strikethrough, underline and the other line styles next to 58 more. The Zalgo Text Generator uses the same combining marks with far less restraint, and the Small Text Generator makes tiny text in small caps, superscript and subscript.

Common questions

How do I strikethrough text anywhere?

Type into the box above and copy the result. Each character is followed by an invisible mark that draws a line through it, so the line travels with the text into any app that accepts ordinary characters — bios, comments, captions, messages.

How do I do strikethrough in Discord?

Discord has it built in: wrap the text in two tildes on each side, ~~like this~~. Two underscores on each side, __like this__, underline it. The tool shows the wrapped version of your text under the results, ready to copy.

How do I do strikethrough in WhatsApp?

Put a single tilde on each side: ~like this~. WhatsApp draws the line itself, which reads better and stays searchable. Use the Unicode version from this tool only where an app has no formatting of its own.

Why are there gaps in the line between words?

Because the spaces had no mark on them. With One unbroken line across spaces ticked, the tool marks the spaces too, so the line runs continuously across the whole phrase the way a real strikethrough does.

How do I remove strikethrough from text I copied?

Switch to Remove lines and paste it in. Every strikethrough, underline, overline and slash mark is stripped, and real accents such as é are left alone.

Why does my struck-through text count as twice as long?

Because each line is a separate character attached to every letter. One line doubles the length; strike plus underline triples it. Character limits count those marks, even though they take up no extra space on screen.

Is my text sent anywhere?

No. The lines are added in your browser and nothing is stored.